Posts Tagged with "the-first-90-days"

Reference #188: The First 90 Days

The transition into a new role is the most professionally challenging time in the life of a leader. In nearly 75% of cases, success or failure during the first few months is a strong predictor of overall job success.Read more →

Reference #189: The First 90 Days

Leadership transitions provide opportunity for change both for the leader and their organisation. But for the leader, they are also periods of vulnerability.Read more →

Reference #190: The First 90 Days

On average, a leader will undergo a major transition (promotion, change in business function, joining a new company, change in business unit within a company, moving geographically) every 1.3 years. Some of these changes are likely to happen in parallel.Read more →

Reference #191: The First 90 Days

The goal of any transition is to get to the breakeven point as soon as possible. This is the point from which a leader is a net contributor of value to their organisation.Read more →

Reference #192: The First 90 Days

The role of a functional performer requires different skills to that of a cross-functional leader.Read more →

Reference #193: The First 90 Days

Promotions and getting onboarded into a new company are the two most common types of transition.Read more →

Reference #194: The First 90 Days

Delegation is important at all level of leadership. The keys to effective leadership remains much the same: building a team you can trust, setting goals and metrics to measure progress, connecting high-level goal is to an individual's responsibilities, and reinforcing those through process.Read more →

Reference #195: The First 90 Days

As you rise in an organisation, influence becomes more important than positional authority. This is for two major reasons.Read more →

Reference #196: The First 90 Days

As an organisational leader, your direct reports play a greater role in communicating your vision and spreading critical information. The ability of your team to communicate well is important.Read more →

Reference #197: The First 90 Days

Newly promoted leaders face, to varying degrees, five core challenges stemming from the following changes to their role:Read more →

Reference #198: The First 90 Days

Joining a new company is much harder than being promoted from within.Read more →

Reference #199: The First 90 Days

After joining a new company, build connections not only with your boss and team, but with your peers and stakeholders.Read more →

Reference #200: The First 90 Days

Culture is a consistent set of patterns people follow for communicating, thinking, and acting. It is grounded in their shared assumptions and values.Read more →

Reference #201: The First 90 Days

Your network of advisors should change as you advance in your career.Read more →

Reference #202: The First 90 Days

When joining a new company, you can benefit from finding a cultural interpreter.Read more →

Reference #203: The First 90 Days

Understanding an organisation's history is important to a leader. Without it, she risks changing structures and processes without knowing why they exist in the first place.Read more →

Reference #204: The First 90 Days

A failure of new leaders — and a particularly destructive one — is believing that they have "the" answer.Read more →

Reference #205: The First 90 Days

In the shadow of the formal structure of many organisations exists the "shadow organisation" — an informal set of processes and alliances that strongly influence how work actually gets done.Read more →

Reference #206: The First 90 Days

When diagnosing a new organisation, a leader should ask her direct reports the same five questions:Read more →

Reference #207: The First 90 Days

Learning should be a primary focus for your first 30 days in a new leadership role.Read more →

Reference #208: The First 90 Days

When learning about and leading an organisation, you must consider the following domains: technical, interpersonal, cultural, and political.Read more →

Reference #209: The First 90 Days

New leaders may find themselves moving into one of the five common business situations: startup, turnaround, accelerated growth, realignment, and sustaining success. These situations are collectively known as STARS.Read more →

Reference #210: The First 90 Days

Successful businesses do not remain successful forever. Due to internal complacency, erosion of key capabilities, and external challenges, they tend to drift towards trouble.Read more →

Reference #211: The First 90 Days

Success in transitioning depends in large part on your ability to transform the prevailing organisational psychology.Read more →

Reference #212: The First 90 Days

The STARS model can be applied to all levels in an organisation.Read more →

Reference #213: The First 90 Days

While a business situation may fall neatly into one of the STARS situations at a high level, the portfolio of products, projects, processes, plants, and people you manage almost certainly represents a mix of situations.Read more →

Reference #214: The First 90 Days

Different business situations require different leadership styles. Hence the success of a leader depends greatly on her ability to adapt her personal leadership strategy.Read more →

Reference #215: The First 90 Days

Leadership is a team sport. Business success — and your success as a leader — depends on having the right mix of people on your leadership team.Read more →

Reference #216: The First 90 Days

According to a Harvard Business Review survey on transitions, accelerated growth (11.6%), startup (13.5%), and turnaround (21.9%) business situations were judged as the least challenging (where % is the percentage of respondents who described the situation as the "most challenging").Read more →

Reference #217: The First 90 Days

Measuring success is more difficult in some business situations than others.Read more →

Reference #218: The First 90 Days

To succeed with a new boss, you should negotiate success.Read more →

Reference #219: The First 90 Days

One of the fundamentals of building a productive relationship with your boss is this: "no surprises.Read more →

Reference #220: The First 90 Days

Don't only bring problems to your boss. Bring a plan on how you could begin to address them together.Read more →

Reference #221: The First 90 Days

It's your responsibility to adapt to your boss, not to change him. You must adapt to your differing working styles, such as ways of communication, motivation, and level of oversight.Read more →

Reference #222: The First 90 Days

You should assume full responsibility for making the relationship with your boss work.Read more →

Reference #223: The First 90 Days

When starting a new role, aim for early wins in areas important to your boss.Read more →

Reference #224: The First 90 Days

There are five specific conversations on transition-related subjects you should have with your boss in your first 90 days. They are not constrained to individual meetings but instead are ongoing and intertwined discussions.Read more →

Reference #225: The First 90 Days

The foundation of what you do in your role is a shared understanding with your boss of the business situation you face.Read more →

Reference #226: The First 90 Days

Identify early on what your boss cares about. In particular, learn what parts of the organisation — such as products and people — you should not push to shut down or replace.Read more →

Reference #227: The First 90 Days

Underpromise and overdeliver early in your role to build credibility.Read more →

Reference #228: The First 90 Days

When clarifying expectations with your boss, seek to understand the bigger picture. Put yourself in her shoes and understand how she will be evaluated.Read more →

Reference #229: The First 90 Days

After aligning with your boss on goals and expectations, it is important to secure from her the resources you need to meet those expectations.Read more →

Reference #230: The First 90 Days

When negotiating for resources, present a set of options (a menu). Lay out the costs and benefits of different levels of resource commitment.Read more →

Reference #231: The First 90 Days

There are several principles for effective resource negotiation:Read more →

Reference #232: The First 90 Days

No matter your business situation. Creating a 90-day plan and getting buy-in from your boss is useful.Read more →

Reference #233: The First 90 Days

As a new boss, while undergoing your own transition you can also help transition your direct reports. One way to do this is by using the [five conversation framework](/posts/lit-note-224).Read more →

Reference #234: The First 90 Days

A large amount of the change instituted by a new leader comes within their first nine months.Read more →

Reference #235: The First 90 Days

As a new leader, be careful not to fall into the low-hanging fruit trap. This occurs when you focus most of your time seeking early wins that don't advance larger and longer-term business objectives.Read more →

Reference #236: The First 90 Days

It's important to not only secure early wins but to get the right wins in the right way.Read more →

Reference #237: The First 90 Days

Don't take on too many opportunities during a transition. Instead identify the most promising opportunities then focus relentlessly on turning them into wins.Read more →

Reference #238: The First 90 Days

Far enough into your career, you begin each role with a reputation.Read more →

Reference #239: The First 90 Days

The early opinions others have of you are difficult to change once formed. These are based on your early actions and little data.Read more →

Reference #240: The First 90 Days

While there is no single right answer for how to build personal credibility, in general new leaders are perceived as more credible when they display these characteristics:Read more →

Reference #241: The First 90 Days

The best way to lead change depends on the situation. After identifying the most important problem, you need to assess whether the organisation is ready to change — in which case a plan-then-implement approach will work well — or whether you need to engage in collective learning.Read more →

Reference #242: The First 90 Days

People and organisations can only absorb so much change at once.Read more →

Reference #243: The First 90 Days

Changing your organisation likely means changing its culture.Read more →

Reference #244: The First 90 Days

Pay particular attention during a transition full predictable surprises. You have all the information necessary to recognise and diffuse these situations, but many leaders don't.Read more →

Reference #245: The First 90 Days

Leaders must be organisational architects.Read more →

Reference #246: The First 90 Days

Understanding organisational systems builds credibility with more senior people in your organisation.Read more →

Reference #247: The First 90 Days

A reorganisation is not always the solution to organisational issues.Read more →

Reference #248: The First 90 Days

Your organisation is an open system. It is affected by the external environment — such as customers, competitors, and suppliers — and by the internal environment — including morale and culture.Read more →

Reference #249: The First 90 Days

Your organisation has limited capacity to absorb change.Read more →

Reference #250: The First 90 Days

Being a system, your organisational architecture comprises distinct interacting elements. These must be aligned to work for the organisation to work well.Read more →

Reference #251: The First 90 Days

Strategic direction comprises mission, vision, and strategy.Read more →

Reference #252: The First 90 Days

While SWOT is a useful framework for conducting strategic analysis, it is equally misunderstood.Read more →

Reference #253: The First 90 Days

Much of an organisation's power is allocated by its structure. The structure defines who has explicit authority over what and whom.Read more →

Reference #254: The First 90 Days

An organisation's structure is how it organises its people and technology to support its strategic direction.Read more →

Reference #255: The First 90 Days

Every organisational structure has trade offs. Your challenge is to find the right balance for your situation.Read more →

Reference #256: The First 90 Days

A group's skill base comprises four types of knowledge:Read more →

Reference #257: The First 90 Days

When you join an existing team as their new leader, you will likely inherit some outstanding performers (A-players), some average performers (B-players), and some who are not up to the job (C-players).Read more →

Reference #258: The First 90 Days

You may not always be able to let go a poor performer, at least not in a short timeframe.Read more →

Reference #259: The First 90 Days

How you structure individual- and group-based compensation as part of your overall performance-based contribution to compensation depends on the extent of interdependence in performance.Read more →

Reference #260: The First 90 Days

Stories and metaphors are effective tools for communicating the essence of a shared vision.Read more →

Reference #261: The First 90 Days

Repetition is invaluable for persuasive communication. To reinforce your team's understanding of and commitment to a shared vision, repeat it.Read more →

Reference #262: The First 90 Days

A common team dysfunction concerns who participates in key team meetings. These are too inclusive in some organisations and too exclusive in others.Read more →

Reference #263: The First 90 Days

The extremes of how a team makes decisions are unilateral decision making — where the leader simply makes a call — and unanimous consent.Read more →

Reference #264: The First 90 Days

Most leaders use the following decision-making processes: "consult and decide" and "build consensus".Read more →

Reference #265: The First 90 Days

Using the right decision-making process for your situation is important.Read more →

Reference #266: The First 90 Days

The decision-making process you choose to take must consider your business situation.Read more →

Reference #267: The First 90 Days

Consider explaining to your team which decision-making process you're using and why.Read more →

Reference #268: The First 90 Days

Don't engage in a charade of consensus building.Read more →

Reference #269: The First 90 Days

You know you're successful in building your team when you reach the breakeven point. At this point, the team creates more energy than you need to put into it.Read more →

Reference #270: The First 90 Days

Success in your role may require the support of people over whom you have no direct authority. Invest early in building networks. Build relationships with people you anticipate needing to work with later.Read more →

Reference #271: The First 90 Days

Early into a new role, you should focus on building support for early objectives. This is true even if you have strong positional authority.Read more →

Reference #272: The First 90 Days

When building an alliance to support an initiative, it may be unlikely you'll achieve complete unanimity.Read more →

Reference #273: The First 90 Days

To understand the influence landscape in your organisation, consider mapping influence networks. These show who influences whom on issues that concern you.Read more →

Reference #274: The First 90 Days

When looking for support for an initiative, you may be able to find people with whom you can build an alliance of convenience. These are individuals with whom you disagree in many areas, but with whom you align on the specific issue of concern.Read more →